The Education Minister has referred to parents who are against vaccinations as "pro-plague".
It comes after a primary school in Northland has asked its District Health Board for help as it has more than 200 unimmunised children .
Chris Hipkins said the DHB need to "step up" in their responsibility of immunising New Zealanders.
"Clearly there is an issue there."
However, when asked if children who were not immunised should be allowed in school, he said he did not believe they should be "denied their right" to have an education if their parents had made a conscious choice not to immunise.
"Kids shouldn't be excluded from education because their parents are pro-plague," Mr Hipkins said.
"Those kids actually are some of the kids that most deserve to learn about science."
Health Minister David Clark said people are at risk if they are un-vaccinated and are around other un-vaccinated people, after the first two cases of measles were detected in Northland last month. The region has the country's lowest vaccination rate of 85 per cent.
"I have been advised the two cases in Northland have come in from overseas, so they're not related to the cases that are in New Zealand already and they are contained. That doesn't take away from the seriousness of making sure we lift our vaccination rate.
"I don't want to cause alarm but vaccination is a serious business and we need to lift our rates of vaccination."
Dr Clark said that "anti-vaxxers need to be challenged".
"The science is very clear about the benefits of vaccination and some of these diseases are deadly or have life altering consequences.
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